July 13, Tokyo, Japan, Roppongi Grand Hotel.
In the large bed room marked "4105," Ji Minghuan was controlling a No. 1 machine, stopped in front of the bathroom sink, holding a disposable toothbrush in his left hand.
While brushing his teeth slowly, he was playing the music ga "Piano Tiles 3" on his phone. The challenge level was the highest difficulty, "Frenzy Tap Arena."
However, instead of using his fingers, he was using the restraint belt — this was to train the precision of controlling the restraint belt.
The mirror above the sink reflected his lowered head and focused expression, with the black restraint belt extending from his fingertips, briskly and swiftly tapping the screen, touching every piano tile without missing.
Ji Minghuan picked up the rinsing cup, caught the lip of the cup with his mouth, while his pupils reflected the disappearing black tiles one after another.
Accompanied by the light music and reward notification sounds, the score at the top of the interface was rising rapidly, however... just as the score barely reached "10000," a WeChat ssage suddenly popped up at the top of the screen, breaking his concentration.
He initially thought it would be Su Zimai, but then realized that he had already set Su Zimai’s account to "Do Not Disturb."
So he looked over, and the ssage wasn’t from anyone else but his best friend, Li Qingping.
[Li Qingping: (Image).]
If it were soone else, Ji Minghuan might have ignored it, but this was the Vice Captain of the Royal Court Team—"Red Dragon," one of the participants in the Tokyo auction a week later. He was very curious about what Li Qingping wanted at this ti.
Pausing the ga, he pulled up the chat interface and saw that the other party had sent a photo of the Tokyo Tower.
[Gu Wenyu: What do you an, are you also here for tourism in Japan?]
[Li Qingping: Haha, out traveling in Japan with friends, it’s my first ti seeing the Tokyo Tower. Next, we’re going to take a stroll around Shinjuku, to see what Kabukicho looks like.]
Their ssages were almost sent out at the first mont, and Ji Minghuan even managed to get ahead, showing that Red Dragon was a slow typist.
[Li Qingping: What do you an?]
[Gu Wenyu: What else could it an?]
[Li Qingping: You’re also in Japan?]
[Gu Wenyu: Yeah, I’m in Tokyo too, want to et up?]
The other party was silent for a long ti, still not replying to the ssage.
Ji Minghuan shrugged his shoulders, just about to exit the WeChat chat interface, when he heard the ssage alert tone.
[Li Qingping: Forget it, I’m with my foreign friends and can’t get away.]
[Gu Wenyu: Oh.]
[Li Qingping: Oh, wait, he said we can et.]
[Gu Wenyu: Huh?]
[Li Qingping: I’ll be with him, if you don’t speak English I can translate for you.]
[Gu Wenyu: How are my English scores compared to yours?]
[Li Qingping: Haha, true that.]
[Gu Wenyu: So when should we et?]
[Li Qingping: Tomorrow morning, it works out as he’s curious about what my friends look like, rember to dress impressively.]
I rember that Li Qingping was serving as the guard of the "Second Prince" from the Anecdote Terrarium, so the friend he ntioned in his ssage... is actually the Second Prince from the Terrarium Royal Court? Ji Minghuan thought.
He glanced at the main line task.
[Main Line Task 4 (Phase Two): Establish a cooperative relationship with the Vice Captain of the Royal Court Team—"Red Dragon," and then expand interpersonal relationships in the Whale Terrarium.]
If it were only Li Qingping, Ji Minghuan might have considered negotiating with him using the identity of the "Black Cocoon."
But now that Li Qingping was serving as the guard for the Second Prince, he would surely be in a state of guarding at all tis. It’s unclear what significance this Second Prince holds on the Anecdote Envoy’s side; at this point in ti, having the Black Cocoon approach could potentially bring trouble.
To be cautious, he decided to wait until after the auction to consider advancing this main line task.
Of course, if Li Qingping were to die at this auction, that would be another matter entirely.
Ji Minghuan put away his phone, looking up at the numb face in the mirror, a toothbrush still in his mouth. He didn’t know why but he felt like this scene was very familiar, familiar to the point of making his scalp tingle. After a mont, he sighed:
"Give a break... exactly how many tis do I have to wash up in a day?"
Ji Minghuan calculated with the rinsing water in his mouth: just using the No. 1 and No. 2 machines, he had to wash up once morning and night, and take a bath between; adding it all up cos to six tis.
The only exception was the body on the lab side: The bathroom connected to the confinent room would open at certain tis. But the bathroom was just a bathroom, only allowing him to perform normal bodily functions, wash hands, splash so water on his face, nothing more.
Thus, the people from the Salvation Society would take advantage of his sleep to bring food, toiletries, and new patient clothes into the confinent room.
Ji Minghuan would only use a towel to quickly wipe his face and body daily, rinse his mouth with a cup and toothbrush, change into a new patient outfit, lie on the bed with eyes closed, bemoaning how even taking a bath seed like a huge luxury.
Yet, apart from bodily secretions, the confinent room was spotless, as if no dust existed, like being in a vacuum. To be honest, there was no real need to bathe, just wiping the body with a towel daily was enough, saving ti and effort.
Ji Minghuan spat the rinsing water into the sink, wiped his mouth with a towel, and moved back inside the room.
Just as he sat on the soft double bed, he received a ssage from his older brother.
[Gu Qiye: I have so errands in a couple of days, didn’t you ntion wanting to go to Akihabara? I’ll teach you how to take the train there.]
[Gu Wenyu: No need. I searched for a guide online and learned so basic Japanese. If necessary, I could use voice translation, I can manage on my own.]
[Gu Qiye: That’s fine, want to keep company for a walk nearby today?]
[Gu Wenyu: Not today. I just arrived in Tokyo and am a bit tired, plus I didn’t sleep well last night, I’ll just rest in the hotel.]
After sending this ssage, Ji Minghuan took out a voice recorder and began a series of preparatory work.
Although Su Zimai was a bit scatterbrained and absent-minded, Ke Qirui who followed her was still sowhat smart.
Therefore, to prevent the two of them from getting suspicious during negotiations, he had to prepare a bit in advance. For that... he even needed to utilize his second machine.
...
...
On the sa day, in the evening, Tokyo’s Harbor District, within Shiba Park.
Su Zimai and Ke Qirui sat on a public bench near a fountain. The one with a high ponytail was playing on her phone, while the other puffed on a pipe, gazing absentmindedly at the Tokyo Radio Tower in the distance.
At seven in the evening, the Tokyo sky was between dark blue and red. The sunset dipped below the horizon, leaving no trace of its last glimr. The lighting of the Tokyo Tower transitioned from orange-red to a pale white, casting warm light in all directions.
One of the two on the bench spoke up, breaking the incessant sound of cicadas.
"My brother hasn’t replied to my ssages all day."
Su Zimai frowned, muttering, her tone sounded aggressive.
The phone screen displayed that her last WeChat ssage was sent half an hour ago, content being: [I and my teacher are at Shiba Park, are you coming out or not?]
Of course, Gu Wenyu ignored her all the sa, but he didn’t block her, just let her spam ssages.
Ke Qirui tucked the smoking pipe into the coat pocket, casually asking, "What about calling him?"
"He blocked my phone number."
"What a lovely big brother." Ke Qirui chuckled.
Su Zimai mumbled with her head down, "What should I do, it seems I can’t get him to co out."
"Should we just go find him ourselves?"
"I don’t even know which hotel he’s staying at; it’s not like I can ask my brother or dad, they don’t know I’m in Japan."
Ke Qirui thought for a mont and then asked, "Should I have soone from the Exorcist Association use their access to find out? It’d be easy to locate which hotel he’s at."
Su Zimai shook her head, "Forget it."
"Yes, whether or not he’s from Blue Arc won’t affect our operations," Ke Qirui softly said, "You could set this aside for now."
Su Zimai nodded.
"Let’s take a walk nearby, I haven’t been to Shiba Park." Ke Qirui said as she stood up.
Su Zimai silently followed beside her, visibly preoccupied. The two strolled around Shiba Park. The cicadas chirped lodiously, nearby a little girl clopped along in geta, and tapped forward.
Under the ginkgo trees lay a serene path, and the two chatted and laughed as they strolled, their feet stepping over the mottled moonlight left on the stone path.
At that mont, Ke Qirui raised her eyebrows, noticing ahead a shadow cast not showing the shape of a tree. Instead, it resembled... a mummy.
She leisurely lifted her gaze, seeing under a tall ginkgo tree ahead hung a massive, pitch-black insect cocoon upside down.
Reviews
All reviews (0)